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Tom's IM Texas 2018 Race Results - Kona Bound!

It's been a while since I've been on the forms.  Time to get back at it!  Anyway, I raced Texas this week and had a pretty good day.  No race report yet - just some random notes scribbled on the plane ride home today.  More later.

Tom’s IM Texas 2018. Sub 10 and off to Kona!

 

Some thoughts – race report to follow.

 

What a day!  Superfast bike course and a race to the finish.

 

To start, the weather was perfect, probably the best in the 8 years of racing the course. Moderate temperatures, low humidity, very little wind in the morning.  Don’t expect that again in the near future!

 

Swim – my swim lessons have been paying off.  First time under 1:10. I actually finished 17th in my AG.  I’m usually at the midpoint or way lower. Swam according to plan. Lined up with the 1:10 group, swam to the outside and didn’t touch anyone for the duration of the swim.

 

Bike.  The course is run mostly on a rented freeway.  From transition, it’s 10+ miles of admin to the highway, then 20 miles up, flip, 20 miles back, flip and repeat then back to transition.  The highway roads are in great condition, the other part, not so much.  Last year the winds were pretty strong from mile 80 all the way home, into your face.  Draining and demoralizing.  This year the winds were light and at your back from 80 all the way home.  Pushing all the way and feeling great.

 

One of the things I noticed early on was large packs of riders and not a race Marshall in sight. I was mostly by myself passing people for the first 60 miles.  When I flipped my bike at the turn I was shocked to find 50 guys about 20 yards back all in a tight formation seriously drafting off each other.  I pushed hard to stay ahead of them.   A short while later I was sitting up to fuel as I was heading up an overpass and they swallowed me up.  It was incredible.  It wasn’t as if they were just all stuck together.  It was obvious they were all intentionally drafting. I pushed hard to get ahead of them again.  I chatted with another guy that had gone back and forth with me for the last 10 miles or so and we were both “WTF?”.  Over the course of the last 50 miles the pack caught me 3 or 4 more times.  One time I told a guy, you guys are cheating, this is a total draft fest.  He gave me the middle finger and I pushed on J  People passing in the opposite direction often screamed out “cheaters” as they rolled past.  I made a strategic decision to stay ahead of the pack, not wanting to be part of it or wanting to get behind it.  As a result, I ended up off race plan, which is typically to push for as long as I can and then fade.  No fading this time! I was pretty concerned I was going to have a tough run.  At the end I felt great and was thrilled with going sub 5, my fastest ever.

 

The Run.  I decided to start off with a comfortable IM shuffle, knowing that my bike may come back to haunt me at mile 15 or so.  My watch said 8:15 miles and that was good enough.  Race pace strategy, same as the bike, start strong and fade.

 

My race Sherpas are best in class!  My now 16 year-old son used to handle 4 or 5 phones, tracking me and all my competitors, doing all the calculations in his head of where I was and what I needed to be aware of.  The new app has taken much of the headache out of his work!  Lots of family cheering.  The first time I see them I get a “Go Dad!”.  What the heck?  I’m expecting split times, competitor data, etc.  I’m thinking, maybe I’m pretty far back, and wonder what they are thinking.  This goes on for a long time, as I see them twice on each of the three loops.  No data.  I’m thinking, fun day, fast times, lucky to get top 10.  Then at mile 23 or so my wife screams at me “pick it up, you’re in contention!”  I started moving as fast as I could go.  I had been passing people, but now there were lots of people I was rolling past very quickly.  200 yards from the finish line I see my family again and I go to give them all high fives.  Everyone screams to keep moving, run as fast as I can.  With no 55 year-olds around me I wonder what they are thinking but do as I was told.  With rolling starts you really don’t know your time and it wasn’t until I crossed the line that they told me I had broken 10 hours by 5 seconds.  Super cool. 3rd place AG. Oldest guy to break 10 – that’s my fun fact for a long time to come!

 

I will always be thankful to Ricardo. Stephen, not so much.  Ricardo was ahead of me and then dropped off the radar screen at mile 25.5 of the run.  Totally weird.  An hour later he reappears on the app showing 14th.  Technical glitch? Lying in the ditch near the end?  I checked the app in the morning and I was still 3rd, he was 14th.  I’m at the awards ceremony and they ask AG winners to gather at the side of the stage.  I’m hanging with 2 others in my AG chatting about the race and someone comes by, asks our position and gives us our trophies. I take my 3rd place plaque.  A minute later Stephen strolls up and says he is in 3rd when asked what spot he was in. I’m surprised but think this is the Ricardo guy and hand him my trophy.  The official list guy comes over and says Stephen is 3rd, I’m 4th.  Turns out they didn’t record his age, so he won the AG zero on the app.  When it gets figured out, of course he is in my AG and he’s faster.  Someone tells me there are 4 spots to Kona in my group but I’m no longer confident.  The 5th place guy was bummed because Stephen dropped him off the podium to 6th and the 4th place guy misses the slot as no one lets it roll.  45 minutes later I officially get the spot and there all high fives from the kids – another Kona vacation.

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Comments

  • Congratulations on a fantastic race and a KQ!  That's awesome!  Lots of chatter over on Slowtwitch about the massive drafting packs.  Good on you for managing to steer clear of them and stll go sub-10.
  • I did that race too and was amazed at the large peleton groups that were drafting. At least 4-5 different groups drafting. Never saw a course marshall once.
  • @Tom Glynn What a day you had, Super fast. Those decisions on the bike really put you in good running position. I guess you were capable of more than you thought. Congratulations!
  • Aloha  B)   @Tom Glynn Congratulations. How fun to have your family there. That is really special.
  • Great work, and congrats on the KQ, @Tom Glynn !  Glad you didn't let the cheaters get you down!
  • @Tom Glynn -- congrats on a superb performance!  Great splits across the board!  I noticed that Roberto Orlando guy (I assume that's the Ricardo you refer to).  It was strange to see him drop from 3rd to 14th in less than a mile.  The IM Web site now lists that Stephen guy as 3rd; can't believe they messed up his age
  • Way to go Tom! 
  • Just well deserved and hard earned!  Inspirational!

    @Tom Glynn
    Sincere congratulations on earning another trip to the BIG island!

    SS
  • Great race Tom, cant wait to hear a little more details since you are the
    IMTX go to guy .... Congratulations and Condolences for getting to race
    KONA again.... Hope you enjoy the pain and the family enjoys paradise :-)
  • @Tom GlynnAnother great result.  Enjoy the big island once again and congrats on the sub 10.  Also the draft fest may have showed you that you can sustain an extra tick or two bike effort and still run well.  Definitely look at the post race data.  Of course that means you will have to push yourself at the next IM with or without the draft pack.
  • Strong work! It must be fun to have those extra 20-25 minutes to play with from your massive swim improvement over the years, no?

    Staying in the game as well and as long as you have is pretty dang hard to do, cherish it.
  • Awesome work! All that confusion at the awards ceremony must have been stressful!
  • Congratulations. Enjoy  your Hawaii trip
  • @Al Truscott the first time I did Texas in 2011 I swam a 1:45, so a 1:09 adds a little cushion :).  Unfortunately, bike conditions were unbelievable this year and I'll never see a 4:50 split again so I'll need to add back 20-30 minutes to my overall time!  Typically the faster you start in Texas, the faster you are overall. As the day progresses, the winds typically pick up, so the pros get in the water first, are fast, get on the bike first, are fast and as a result, most years never experience the winds. The poor guys riding a 7-hour bike are just completely shelled from the wind almost every year. This year, no wind, no humidity, low temperatures made for ideal conditions.  They also decided to shave 2 miles off the course at the last minute over safety issues so it was only 110 miles.  Conditions in Texas are always out of control.  This year great but we have been stopped mid-race for monsoon-type rains, roads have washed out just before the race, the waterway was rerouted over pollution concerns 24 hours before a start to name but a few things that have gone horribly wrong. I guess we just take the good when we can!
  • Great race Tom, guess those pull buoys help after all. You are Mr. IM Texas!
  • Congratulations @Tom Glynn! Really excited to see you crush it. Also great to see the swim improvement as it gives me hope :)  
  • Congrats,Tom! And welcome back to Kona. Very well deserved. Strong across the board in the S, B & R. 
  • Tom - watching you over the years has not only been enjoyable, but inspirational, I know from reading your reports, and watching your Strava files how hard you've worked, particularly on the qualitative aspect of your game. Congrats!
  • Tom - grats for your race and the KQ ! well deserved :)
  • Awesome job, well deserved!!
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